Saint Augustine (13th November 354 – 28th August 430), Doctor of the Church, is considered the central pillar of Western Christianity. The following text is a series of quotes translated into English from the French version of Daniel Rops’ book, “The Church in the Time of the Barbarians”, Paris, 1950. The pages between parenthesis are from the French version.
“The saint of a new era.” (7)
Before his death, “this old man must have felt he was witnessing a total collapse (of a world).” (9)
“Did the old Bishop of Hippo suspect that his thoughts would illuminate the centuries, that his genius would shape the world born from the great collapses, that his sanctity would remain forever exemplary?” (11)
“It is often observed that vast enterprises are led by beings of weak constitution, and that the magnitude of their accomplishments seems at odds with an apparent fragility. […] The inner sense of a certain deficiency compels one to gather strength.” (25)
“If the word ‘genius’ has any meaning, it is surely applied to this mind of inexhaustible richness, this brain of unique power, this truly prophetic conscience of the demands of the time and the expectations of the future. […] In all fields, he penetrates deeply. No abstract problem deters or discourages him […] There is not a topic he approached without renewing it, marking it with his own seal, obliging anyone who would revisit it to at least debate and often accept the Augustinian commentary. One stands in awe at the accumulation of such gifts, complemented by a reliable memory and an extraordinary dedication to work.” (25-26)
“To anticipate and prepare for the future—such was ultimately the historical mission of Saint Augustine. Positioned precisely at one of the most grave turning points of the centuries, a clear-eyed witness to the collapse of a world, he rises at the threshold of new times as the herald and guide for a humanity in distress. It seems as though four centuries of Christianity had pursued so much effort, waged so many struggles only to be summarised and fulfilled in this powerful personality, who, from all these still scattered results, sought to create a synthesis and whose thought would serve as a beacon for a new humanity.” (45-46)
“In the breakdown of the ancient world, all the fundamental values of man and civilisation were being lost, those of intellect as well as conscience. The real question was how these could survive the destruction of their political and social structure. […] In the fourth century, ancient intelligence shows all the symptoms of aging: its creative energy is drained; everything reduces to commentary, summary, grammatical or rhetorical study. It gives the impression of running on empty, and all the wealth of a prestigious past leads only to a great confusion. But what Augustine, by his education, was equipped to understand, was that this past of ancient intelligence was a value to be safeguarded.” (46)
“[…] Augustine’s intuition led him to conceive new foundations for the human mind. […] Augustine understood that Christianity was the only bastion capable of protecting the riches of the mind against the threatening Barbarisms.” (47)
“This, ultimately, was his true role in this regard. He has led men who followed him to meditate on the great eternal questions from a Christian perspective. […] In this way, for the society that would later emerge beyond the great catastrophes, he preserved the instrument; he prepared the future renaissances of the intellect.” (51)
“But he had the unique merit of enumerating all the great issues, of showing in which direction the Christian responses lay, and, by dominating them, linking solutions to fundamental principles. By seeking only to draw, logically, from Christian premises all the consequences useful for life on earth, Saint Augustine laid the foundations of the future.” (64)
“Because he was both a traditionalist and a revolutionary, a saint and a genius, Augustine took on the entire past of the ancient world—a past teetering on the edge of an abyss. He extracted from it all that was worth preserving, and by supporting humanity on the wood of the Cross, he turned towards the future the anxious face that had been contemplating the dying past. Thanks to him, the soul of the Barbarians would gradually be broadened, led by Christianity towards civilisation. Thanks to him, the essential continuity would be assured. And for us, who observe the event from the perspective of history, it is Augustine’s work that allows us to fully understand that the collapse of the ancient world was not merely an end, but the herald of a birth, the genesis of a new form of civilisation.”
“Here we observe the application of a law that has never known an exception. At every decisive moment of history, there has always been in the Church a significant figure who seems positioned at the turn of the centuries as God’s witness. […] Slowly, with their meagre strength, the best would strive to follow this model. But between the precepts set by the saint’s genius and the Barbarisms in full force, History, which is patient, and knows well that for societies, deaths and births are slow, would open six centuries of debates.” (69)
Read Also
– Saint Augustine’s Influence on The West
– “The Lord’s Sermon on the Mount”, Saint Augustine.
– “Saint Augustine’s Homilies on the First letter of John”.
– “Essential Expositions of the Psalms by Saint Augustine” Selected and Introduced by Michael Cameron.
– “Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends” by Carmen Joy Imes.
– “St. Augustin: Exposition on the Book of Psalms”, Philip Chaff.
– “St. Augustine of Hippo: Homilies on the Gospel of St. John” (Tractates on the Gospel of John).